DAVIE OFFICER SKIPS HEARING ON HER FIRING

DAVIE -- Police Officer Cynthia Diane Oliver, charged with selling cocaine from her Hollywood home, failed on Friday to attend an administrative hearing to determine whether she should be fired.

Oliver also did not show up when the hearing initially was scheduled for July 18. It was cancelled when she did not appear.

"I don't think she is interested in the hearing," said Police Chief Robert Weatherhold. "The least of her concerns now is her job. I want to make a reasonable effort to find her before I make a decision."

The Police Department sent a certified letter to her home and officers repeatedly searched the area in hopes of finding Oliver before Friday's hearing, Weatherholt said. Officers even posted a notice on her front door.

But Oliver, 32, who was charged July 15 with selling rock cocaine to an undercover agent for the Broward Sheriff's Office, could not be found.

Her husband, Willie Lee Oliver, 28, a maintenance worker for the town since 1977, also was charged with selling cocaine. He was arrested while working in a town park. He could not be found, either.

Weatherholt said officers are expected to continue looking for Oliver this weekend so he can talk to her, he said. Even if he does not find her, the chief said he will make the decision on whether to fire her by Monday morning.

Weatherholt and Capt. Robert McDaniel discussed the case for about 15 minutes on Friday before the town's labor attorney, John Gronda. Oliver was not represented by an attorney at the hearing.

Weatherholt said he will consider her employment history in his decision.

Since last May, Oliver had missed eight days of work, most times never notifying the department of her absence. She received a few commendations for her work as a police aide before becoming a sworn officer in April 1983.

"She didn't need to be at the hearing," Weatherholt said. "But she could have told her side of the story."

Oliver, who is suspended without pay, has denied the charges. Police have said they think she was supporting her own cocaine habit by selling rock cocaine, also known as crack, a highly purified form of the drug.

Oliver, the only black officer on the 87-person police force, blamed racial discrimination for the charges against her.

"I'm the only black officer, and they've been trying to do this to me," she said after the arrest.

Police denied the accusation.

Town police officers soon may be required to take drug tests in response to Oliver's arrest.

"Our police officers are clean," said Vice Mayor Art Lazear, who proposed drug testing after the incident. "I want to reinstate the public's faith in the department."

Oliver was released from the Broward County Jail the night of her arrest on $7,500 bail. She faces a maximum of 45 years in prison and a $30,000 fine if convicted on the three charges of selling cocaine. Her husband faces 30 years and a $20,000 fine.